Candle dipping machine

ABSTRACT

A wick dipping apparatus includes a pair of vertically extending endless chains disposed above a pool of molten wax. A plurality of spaced, wick holding rod elements are supported between said chains. One rod of longer extent is operatively associated with a counter means. Means drive the chains whereby to periodically dip the wicks and actuate the counter.

United States Patent 1 DeKavallas 1 July 3,1973

[ CANDLE DlPPlNG MACHINE [76] Inventor: Emmanuel G. D eKavallas, 1525 E.

Diamond, Phoenix, Ariz. 85006 [22] Filed: Nov. 5, 1971 [21] Appl. N0.: 195,983

118/30, 7, 8, 426, 9,10; l17/113,ll4 A, 114 B, 114 C, 114 R, 115; 116/73; 198/40; 425/DIG. 803, 270272, 169

1,046,992 12/1912 Day 116/73 X 1,160,923 11/1915 Mahoney 425/272 1,735,443 11/1929 Randles et a1. 198/40 X 1,906,444 5/1933 Bixby ..l 118/9 2,478,202 8/1949 Moore 117/66 2,529,829 1l/1950 Banks .Q 118/425 X 2,818,044 12/1957 Booty, Jr. et a1. 118/426 Primary XFWfQf'MQW? K p en A homey-John W. Malley, Alvin Guttag et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A wick dipping apparatus includes a pairof vertically extending endless chains disposed above a pool of molten wax. A plurality of spaced, wick holding rod ele- [56] References Cited ments are supported between said chains. One rod of longer extent 1S operatlvely associated with a counter UNITED STATES PATENTS means. Means drive the chains whereby to periodically 237,074 1/1881 Baldwin 198/40 X [he wicks and actuate the counter 415,888 11/1889 Weldon 118/425 X 639,266 1211899 Mosely 118/425 X 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures fl 4 {as i l q 33% 11 32.1% as w L CANDLE DIPPING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to candle dipping or making machines.

2. Description of the Prior Art Candle making is, of course, a very old art. In the distant past plural candles were made at a single time by means of a reel suspended over a vat and containing plural rows of wicks on the periphery thereof. The reel was then lowered into the vat by an operator by a rope whence the first set of wicks was dipped. Then the reel was raised again and hand rotated and lowered again to dip a second set of wicks. Of course, this operation was exceedingly slow and the dipping time and cooling time are subject to human inaccuracies which made for uneven candles.

More recently, continuous candle dipping machines have become available for mass producing candles on a large scale. These machines are however,'subject to several disadvantages. First, they consume a large floor space since they each have a great length of horizontal track for guiding thev chains upon which the wicks are suspended. Secondly, they are fixed to the foundation rather than being portable. Thus, for the above reasons, they are inappropriate for environments where it is desired to make candles on an intermittent basis in a relatively small floor space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In contradiction, the applicants candle dipping machine comprises a pair of endless chains mounted upon a vertical rack which is supported upon a wheeled platform. Thus, the applicants device requires relatively less floor space for a given capacity than do the abovementioned machines and since it is portable, it may be easily removed to a storage area to free the working space for other activity. The applicants device may also be made at reduced scale so as to be hand-carried to a work bench from a storage area.

Secondly, the above machines lack adjustments for controlling the dipping time and number of dips per candle. Thus, the prior art machines are restricted to a single type of candle product.

The applicant's device includes a counting device activate d to correspond to the dipping of at least one set of wicks whereby the number of dips of the candles are indicated. Also, a speed control is attached to the motor which in the applicant's device powers the vertically mounted endless chains. Thus, the applicants device is adapted to produce a variety of shapes of candles since the shape of a candle depends upon the number of times and the speed with which the wick is dipped in the candle wax, as well as the depth of dip.

Thirdly, the prior art has proposed rather complicated mechanical means for lowering the levelof candle wax with respect to the wicks to control the depth of dip. In the applicant's device, however, this level adjustment is easily accomplished through a valve means disposed near the bottom of the tank through which the wax may be removed periodically.

Fourthly, the capacity of the prior art machines is fixed, both because the speed and number of dips are fixed, and also because the length of the racks over which the wicks pass is fixed.

LII

The applicant's device has a variable capacity since the vertical rack may be adjusted upward and a new length of chain added. In addition, additional identical units may be placed in side by side relationship to the original unit and be mechanically connected thereto to increase capacity.

The above and other advantages are accomplished by the preferred embodiment of applicants invention which will now be described with reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the candle making machine according to the preferred embodiment of the applicants invention;

FIG. 2 is a detail front view showing the chain structure and counter of the applicant's invention and FIG. 3 is a side view of the chain structure and counter of FIG. 2 in the direction of arrow 3.

The same elements are indicated by the same reference numerals throughout.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1, the candle making machine is indicated generally by the reference numeral 10. This machine comprises as a base a rectangular platform 12 conventionally mounted upon wheels 14 at each of its four corners.

Upon the platform 12 a tank or vat-16 is welded, bolted or otherwise fixedly attached. The vat 16 is filled to a level near its open top 18 with melted wax, by which is meant any appropriate candle making material such as beeswax, grease, stearic acid, paraffin, etc. The wax is kept in the liquid state by the heater 20 which is disposed within the tank. The heater 20, whose size depends upon the size of vat 16, may be controlled by a temperature sensing unit which is also immersed within the melted wax in a conventional manner, so as to maintain a given temperature within the vat. The vat 16 also contains a valve 19 and conduit. 21 disposed near the bottom thereof.

Furthermore, the platform 12 supports the U-shaped end rails 22a and 22b which are welded thereto. The end rails, in turn, have horizontal bars as, for example, the bars 240 and 24b welded to rail 22b which, by means of collars 26, support the vertical post members 28.

The vertical post members 2%, in turn, have horizontal bars 30 welded thereto and these horizontal bars through collars 32 adjustably mount the vertical rack supports 34a and 34b.

The left-hand post members 2% and the end rail 22a together form the supports for a platform 36 upon which a motor 38 is mounted. The motor is controlled by a speed controller 40 of conventional construction. The output of motor 38 is connected through a transmission 42 to a drive shaft 44, upon which sprockets 46a and 46b are fixedly mounted. The other end of shaft 44 is supported in the bearing 45, which is supported between the left end vertical post members 28. Each sprocket is encircled by a separate endless chain 48a and 48b, respectively.

1 The other ends of the chains 48a and 48b encircle the idler sprockets 50a and 50b, respectively, which are fixedly mounted to the shafts 52a and 52b, respectively. Shaft 52a is rotatably mounted in a bifurcated support member 54 which is mounted at the top of left-hand vertical rack support 34, while shaft 52b is rotatably mounted in an identical bifrucated support member 56 which is mounted at the top of the right-hand vertical rack support member 34b.

The chains 48a and 48b are periodically fastened together by a plurality of horizontally disposed rods 60 which, as is best in FIG. 2, are threaded at least at one end and are capped at those ends by internally threaded caps 62. Also with reference to FIG. 2, it is noted that one of rods 60, which may be designated as rod 60, is longer than the others and thus overhangs at least one end of the chains, for example chain 48a, by a greater distance than to the other rods 60. Thus rod 60' can act as a trip mechanism for the digital counter 62 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. In addition, rod 60' as well as the other rods 60 each support the horizontal wick holders 64 by means of hooks G6.

The capacity of the candle making machine can be altered without changing the floor space required therefor, by adding extra lengths of chain connected by extra rods 60 and raising the vertical rack members 34 to maintain an appropriate tension upon the chains.

The capacity of the candle making machine 10 may also be altered, as shown in FIG. 1, by adding more rack units to the same platform in a side by side man- IIGI'.

The operation of the above-described candle making machine 10 is quite flexible and thus, a large variety of shapes of candles may be produced by such a machine. In operation, the candle making machine is brought into the working area from the storage area and the vertical rack is adjusted to give the machine an appropriate capacity, i.e., an appropriate number of rods 60. Then, the horizontal wick holders 64 are attached to the rods 60 by their hooks 66, and the vat 16 is filled with melted wax to the appropriate level and the heater 20 is energized.

The counter 62 is then set to zero and the speed controller 40 is set to a speed appropriate to develop candles of a desired diameter, given a predetermined number of dips. A chart may, for example, be developed to help the operator set the speed control. When the counter registers the appropriate number, the operator may either stop the machine 10 and remove the wick holders 64 from the rods 60, or the operator may continually remove and replace the wick holders while the machine remains in motion.

In addition, the relative level of the candles in the vat l6, and thus the taper of the candles, may be controlled by an operator by removing some of the wax from vat 16 via valve 18. It is noted that this latter process could be made automatic, i.e., valve 18 could be automatically actuated by a signal produced by counter 62.

It should be understood that the foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the applicants invention is merely exemplary thereof, and that many modifications may be made thereto within the scope of that invention. Thus, to fully understand the invention, reference must be made to the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A candle dipping apparatus comprising:

a container of molten wax;

a pair of vertically extending endless chains disposed above and operatively associated with said container;

a plurality of spaced rod elements extending between and supported by said chains;

at least one of said rods being of a length to extend laterally beyond one of said chains;

said rods being adapted to support pluralities of wicks depending therefrom;

counter means disposed laterally adjacent said one of said chains and adapted to be functionally actuated by said longer rod passing thereby; and

means to drive said chains whereby to periodically dip said wicks into the wax and to periodically actuate said counter.

2. The candle dipping apparatus as recited in claim 1 further including a valve means disposed adjacent the bottom of said container, and communicating with the wax holding portion thereof for permitting withdrawal of molten wax from said container.

3. The candle dipping apparatus as recited in'claim 1 wherein said vertical rack is adjustable to a variety of heights, whereby the capacity of said machine may be varied.

4. The candle dipping apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the speed of said drive means is controlled by a speed control device.

5. The candle dipping apparatus of claim 3 wherein at least one of said rods is removable from being supported by said chains whereby to facilitate adjustment of chain length. 

1. A candle dipping apparatus comprising: a container of molten wax; a pair of vertically extending endless chains disposed above and operatively associated with said container; a plurality of spaced rod elements extending between and supported by said chains; at least one of said rods being of a length to extend laterally beyond one of said chains; said rods being adapted to support pluralities of wicks depending therefrom; counter means disposed laterally adjacent said one of said chains and adapted to be functionally actuated by said longer rod passing thereby; and means to drive said chains whereby to periodically dip said wicks into the wax and to periodically actuate said counter.
 2. The candle dipping apparatus as recited in claim 1 further including a valve means disposed adjacent the bottom of said container, and communicating with the wax holding portion thereof for permitting withdrawal of molten wax from said container.
 3. The candle dipping apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said vertical rack is adjustable to a variety of heights, whereby the capacity of said machine may be varied.
 4. The candle dipping apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the speed of said drive means is controlled by a speed Control device.
 5. The candle dipping apparatus of claim 3 wherein at least one of said rods is removable from being supported by said chains whereby to facilitate adjustment of chain length. 